This relates generally to strands of material and, more particularly, to conductive strands for forming conductive pathways in fabric-based items.
It may be desirable to form electrical devices, enclosures, and other items from fabric. The fabric may contain insulating and conductive strands. In some situations, it may be desirable to form signal paths or other conductive structures from the conductive strands.
Challenges may arise when forming conductive structures from conductive strands in a fabric. Fabric is often bent back and forth during use. Solid wires may experience large amounts of stress when bent. Polymer strands covered with metal coatings can be used in place of solid wire strands. If care is not taken, however, fabric bending motions may cause a metal coating to be abraded from a polymer strand or may cause a metal coating to fail due to the difference between the modulus of elasticity of the metal coating and the modulus of elasticity of the underlying polymer strand material. Metal coating failures can lead to unexpected open circuits and other reliability issues. Defects such as unexpected open circuits may prevent an item from functioning properly.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved techniques for forming conductive strands for use in fabric-based items.